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It's Possible I Watched a Little Too Much Football Yesterday Afternoon

Football player's faces look very different when they're wearing their helmets. That's about the only reasonable interpretation of what will follow in this post that does not involve its author having seriously hallucinated -- and without pharmaceutical assistance, either.

Midway through the Notre Dame-Washington game on NBC, which naturally included many close-ups of Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, I began to get a deja vu flash, Clausen's face, square jaw, large eyes, and determined visage, reminded me of something. I'd seen that face, somewhere.

Four or five close-ups later, it struck me. Clausen looked like 1940s actor Pat O'Brien. Or rather, he looked like a young guy delivering a creditable impression of O'Brien, whose most famous role, of course, was the title role in "The Knute Rockne Story," the hokey, ridiculous, delightful film on the life of Notre Dame's legendary coach of the 1920s.

Football coma induced by access to HD broadcasting and the remote control may have been responsible for this impression. Or maybe I was right, and Clausen did look a little like O'Brien. I'll have to tune in to Notre Dame's next game and check.

But if I see another Irish player in the huddle who looks like Ronald Reagan, I may have to start getting outside more this season.

posted by Michael Gee @ 8:06 AM